ESPN’s app streams its studio shows on-demand

ESPN has been adding more features to its mobile app, like personalizing user live video streams. Starting today, fans can stream select shows on the app, including College GameDay, Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn — and they can watch them whenever they want. No more missing an episode because you couldn’t make the livestream.

“Our mission at ESPN is to serve sports fans, and now more than ever, they expect to stream their favorite shows on the device and time of day they prefer,” ESPN vice president of digital media programming John Lasker said in a press release. “With today’s launch, fans can now access an array of ESPN’s most popular, award-winning shows – with more to come in the near future – anytime, anywhere.”

The latest episodes will appear on the app shortly after they’ve finished airing. The full list of shows (and their scheduled time) are below:

• Around the Horn (weekdays at 5 p.m. ET)
• College GameDay Built by the Home Depot (Saturdays at 9 a.m. ET)
• College Football Countdown (most Thursdays at 7 p.m. ET)
• College Football Live (weekdays at 5:30 p.m. ET)
• College Football Final (at the conclusion of the Saturday games/post-game show on ESPN2 during the season)
• The Fantasy Show with Matthew Berry (weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2)
• The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (weekdays at 10 a.m. ET on ESPNU)
• Jalen & Jacoby (weeknights at 1 a.m. ET on ESPN2)
• The Jump (weekdays at 3 p.m. ET)
• Pardon the Interruption (weekdays at 5:30 p.m. ET)
• The Paul Finebaum Show (weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on SEC Network)
• SEC Nation (Saturdays at 10 a.m. ET)
• SEC Now (nightly on SEC Network)
• Thinking Out Loud (Mondays at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network)

HSBC app will let you manage accounts from multiple banks

HSBC is readying a mobile app that will allow customers to manage multiple accounts from different banks. “HSBC Beta” will support 21 money-keepers at launch, including Santander, Lloyds and Barclays, so users can review their current account, loans, mortgages and savings simultaneously. It’s the first time a major UK bank has offered such a service. In August 2016, the Competition and Markets Authority declared that all banks would need to adopt “Open Banking” by early 2018, allowing this sort of functionality. Clearly, it’s made a difference, though HSBC is keen to stress that it was working on the technology before the ruling.

Next month, HSBC Beta will be launched as an iOS app for roughly 10,000 customers. A general release, including an Android app, will follow in “early 2018.” HSBC is calling it a “test and learn” platform where it can quickly try and adapt new ideas based on customer feedback. Initially, HSBC Beta will be an optional, complimentary service to the company’s “core” banking app. But it could take on a larger role in the future. HSBC has additional features in the pipeline including Safe Balance, which shows how much disposable cash you have until payday, and Spend Analysis, which categorises purchases with helpful tags, notes and photos.

For HSBC, it’s a chance to differentiate from its high-street bank competition. It’s also a reaction to startups such as Atom, which are tempting customers with superior mobile apps and clear, actionable analytics. For now, these companies are a small threat, but if HSBC neglects its software they could quickly gain ground. Multiple account access will be a huge draw for people who regularly switch banks to take advantage of new deals. If HSBC can push that feature, while matching the functionality of apps like Monzo and Plum, it’ll keep them at bay for years to come.

Amazon’s Echo Show is now available to pre-order in the UK

Thanks to a surprise event at Amazon’s Seattle HQ yesterday, we got to see a whole host of new Alexa-powered devices. We played with the redesigned Echo, the all-new Echo Plus with smart hub, the cute Echo Spot and an overhauled Fire TV, giving consumers even more reason to buy into Amazon’s ecosystem.

While most of the event was dedicated to brand new Echos, the company also found time to update customers outside of the US on the status of the Echo Show. The good news is that the video-capable device is now available to pre-order in the UK and Germany for £199.99 and €219.99 respectively.

The Echo Show is the first Echo with a touchscreen, and will deliver rotating views of your calendar appointments, to-do items, weather and a bunch of trending news stories. It plays back video, although YouTube has now been blocked, and allows you to hold video calls with friends and family who also happen to own one.

To coincide with the launch, partners such as Just Eat, National Rail, BBC News, MTV, 7Digital, Sky Sports Super 6 and Liverpool FC have created Alexa Skills specifically for the Echo Show, allowing you to enjoy localised content when it begins shipping on November 16th.

Source: Amazon Echo Show

Gene editing could make wheat safe for celiac sufferers

Celiac disease is thought to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide. Although doctors are still grappling with the causes of the autoimmune disorder, one thing is for sure: If you’re diagnosed it with it, you should avoid gluten. But maintaining long-lasting dietary changes isn’t easy — especially when you have to discard some of the most common food items, like bread. Fortunately, hope may be at hand, thanks to good old science. Using gene-editing, researchers from Spain’s Institute for Sustainable Agriculture are creating new types of wheat that reduce immune reactions in celiac disease sufferers.

As the team note in their study, the problem lies with a protein component in gluten known as gliadins. Armed with CRISPR tech, they decided to go after the gliadins found in wheat. And, thus far they’ve managed to successfully snip out 35 of the 45 genes contained in the component. But, there’s still a ways to go before their genetically modified wheat is ready to be sampled. Nonetheless, the initial results (which apparently included a serviceable loaf of bread) are promising. And, the scientists hope it will one day be used to produce other types of low-gluten foods.

CRISPR tech has been hailed as a tool that could bring about the next agricultural revolution. With its help, scientists aim to create tougher crops with higher resilience to drought, pests, and blight. Before then, it may also get rid of the irritating gluten-free fad.

Source: Plant Biotechnology

Toshiba Signs $17.7 Billion Deal to Sell Memory Chip Unit to Bain-Apple Group

After lengthy negotiations, Toshiba this morning officially agreed to sell its lucrative memory chip unit to a global consortium that includes Apple, in a deal reportedly worth $17.7 billion (via The Wall Street Journal).

Toshiba said the legally binding agreement ensures the chip unit will remain a Toshiba affiliate even after it has become the property of the Bain Capital-led group, which includes Apple, Dell, Seagate, Hoya, and SK Hynix.

Toshiba and Bain want to get the deal done by the end of March, despite ongoing litigation with Western Digital, which jointly operates the memory business with Toshiba. Western Digital claims it has the right to vote on the sale. Another hurdle is receiving antitrust clearance, which could take six months or longer, according to WSJ.

Toshiba originally announced it would sell its NAND flash memory unit in January 2017 to raise funds to cover huge losses associated with its U.S. nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse. Toshiba wants to close the deal to raise the cash by March so it can remain listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Several companies, including TSMC, Foxconn, Amazon, Google, Broadcom, and a range of private equity firms entered bids this year in an effort to get a piece of the memory chip unit.

In a statement given to Reuters on Thursday, SK Hynix said the Bain-led group will hold 49.9 percent of the voting rights in the chip unit, while Toshiba will hold 40.2 percent and Japan’s Hoya Corp will own 9.9 percent. Apple, Dell, Seagate, and Kingston Technology will invest in the form of non-convertible preferred shares, it said.

SK Hynix also revealed it will invest 395 billion yen ($3.5 billion) in the unit. Other companies declined to comment, but individual investments are believed to be 350.5 billion yen ($3.11 billion) from Toshiba, 212 billion yen ($1.88 billion) from Bain, and a combined 415.5 billion yen ($3.68 billion) from Apple, Dell, Kingston, and Seagate.

Apple has been interested in the memory chip unit because NAND flash is an essential component of its iPhones and iPads. Only a handful of companies make the chips and the dominant player is Samsung, Apple’s biggest rival in the smartphone industry.

Tag: Toshiba
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Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 review: All grown up

The first-generation Mi Mix was awe-inspiring, and with its successor, Xiaomi is looking to retain that ‘wow’ factor while making the device accessible to a wider audience.

Xiaomi made the rest of the smartphone industry stand up and take notice with the Mi Mix. The phone’s all-screen front with a 91.3% screen-to-body ratio and ceramic construction made it stand out, but with Xiaomi opting to sell the device primarily in China, most consumers had to resort to third-party options to get their hands on the Mi Mix.

Thankfully, that’s changing with the Mi Mix 2. The phone will be making its way to over 30 markets where Xiaomi currently has a presence, and with 42 LTE bands onboard, you’ll be able to use it on most carriers around the world. Xiaomi also made a few design tweaks to make the phone more accessible, including trimming down the size of the screen, and switching back to an earpiece that actually works.

The price is what makes the Mi Mix 2 that much more enticing: the base variant with 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage retails for the equivalent of $500 in China, and Xiaomi will be looking to introduce it at around the same price in other regions. Let’s find out if the Mi Mix 2 is able to differentiate itself from the rest of the phones in this segment.

About this review

I (Harish Jonnalagadda) am writing this review after using the Mi Mix 2 for two weeks, with usage spread across Beijing and Hyderabad. I used the phone primarily on Airtel’s 4G network, and was on roaming with China Mobile. The device is running the first global beta ROM of MIUI ( build 7.8.24), and has picked up a single update with stability fixes, incrementing the build number to 7.9.21. The unit was provided to Android Central for review by Xiaomi.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Specs

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Hardware

The Mi Mix 2 looks a lot like its predecessor, and that’s a good thing. The first-generation Mi Mix was stunning to behold thanks to its all-screen display, and we’re treated to a similar design this time around. The Mix 2 has razor-thin bezels on three sides, leading to an immersive display that’s ideal for multimedia consumption.

There’s a chin at the bottom that houses the 5MP front camera and the notification LED, with Xiaomi noting that the bottom bezel is now 12% thinner than that on the Mi Mix. Xiaomi used a piezoelectric acoustic driver last year, but switched to a standard earpiece that’s located just above the display this time around. The earpiece itself is decent enough, and you shouldn’t have any issues for voice calls.

The Mi Mix had a crazy 91.3% screen-to-body ratio, but the large 6.44-inch display made it difficult to use the phone one-handed. With the Mi Mix 2, Xiaomi decreased the screen size to a more manageable 5.99 inches, making the phone more conducive to one-handed usage. The fact that it is an 18:9 display means that the phone is quite tall, and you’re not going to be able to reach all corners of the display.

Whereas the Mi Mix was blocky at the back, its successor has smooth edges and rounded corners, resulting in a much better in-hand feel. The design at the back is relatively unchanged from the Mi Mix: there’s an 18-carat gold accent around the camera sensor, and the “Mix designed by Xiaomi” tagline is still laser-etched onto the back. Xiaomi is once again using a ceramic back, but the mid-frame is made out of aluminum. There’s a single speaker located at the bottom of the phone, and a USB-C charging port next to it. There’s no IR sensor on the phone, and you’re not going to find a 3.5mm jack either.

Bezel-less phones like the Essential Phone and the iPhone X have a notch or cutout at the top to accommodate the front camera module. Xiaomi, meanwhile, decided to move the camera to the bottom right corner of the phone, and in doing so the top of the Mi Mix 2 is seamless and not marred by any cutouts.

The first-generation Mi Mix also sported the front camera at the bottom of the screen, but this time around Xiaomi is using an even smaller imaging sensor, and the area around the lens is blacked out. That said, the same problems that plagued the first-generation Mi Mix are back with the Mi Mix 2: the position of the front camera makes it incredibly awkward to use, and more often than not, you’ll end up getting a weird chin-first angle when taking selfies. The camera app tells you to invert the phone to take selfies, which isn’t ideal. While it works for the default camera app, there’s no way to change orientation in apps like Duo.

The defining feature on the phone is the all-screen front, and while Xiaomi would have fared better with a QHD panel, the FHD+ display with a resolution of 2160 x 1080 is really good. It doesn’t get as saturated as the AMOLED panels on Samsung’s phones, but it is one of the best LCDs you’ll find in the market today.

Colors reproduction is accurate, and if you’re looking for punchier colors, there’s an option to adjust the color temperature in the settings. The phone gets sufficiently bright for outdoor usage, and you can reduce the brightness all the way down to 1nit for viewing the screen at night. There’s also a dedicated reading mode that acts as a blue light filter.

The Mi Mix 2 is compatible with most carriers around the world.

The Mi Mix 2 is powered by the 10nm Snapdragon 835, and the base variant of the phone comes with 6GB of RAM. Xiaomi is making three storage configurations available: 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB (the model I’m reviewing). The 64GB model is available for what amounts to $500 in China, but you’ll have to shell out close to $570 to get your hands on a unit from reseller sites.

As you’d imagine from a phone that has the latest hardware available today, the Mi Mix 2 absolutely blazes through anything you throw at it. I haven’t noticed any slowdowns yet, and with MIUI 9 providing much-needed optimization for the UI elements, you won’t feel like the interface is bloated (which was definitely the case with MIUI 8).

Xiaomi rolled out its first global phone last year in the Mi Note 2, with the phone featuring support for 37 LTE bands in total. The company is doing the same once again with the Mi Mix 2, offering 42 bands in total. That means that you’ll be able to use the Mi Mix 2 on most carriers around the world, making it a much more enticing option for those looking to import the device.

Aside from the annoyances with the front camera, the Mi Mix 2 is a well-thought-out phone that certainly looks much better when compared to the likes of the OnePlus 5. Xiaomi is also offering a limited edition model crafted out of unibody ceramic that comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage. The phone will be available in black and white color options, and it looks absolutely stunning. You can clearly make out the difference between the ceramic and the aluminum mid-frame on the regular version, but the ceramic unibody edition has a seamless design that’s evocative, particularly in the white color option.

If you’re looking for a phone that stands out, then the unibody ceramic edition is the one to get. The phone will be incredibly hard to get a hold of, however, and at $720 it costs considerably more than the regular version.

Battery life

Xiaomi phones are known for their battery longevity, and the Mi Mix 2 is no different. I easily got a day’s worth of usage out of the 3400mAh battery consistently, even on days when I was using cellular data throughout. I routinely averaged screen-on-time in excess of five hours. And when you do need to top up, the phone has Quick Charge 3.0.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Software

The Mi Mix 2 runs the latest version of MIUI 9, which is based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat. MIUI 9 has a lot of new additions, but the user-facing ones are (for now) limited to the Chinese ROM. If you’re buying the phone from a reseller like GearBest, you’ll get the global ROM pre-installed, which comes with the Play Store and Google’s suite of apps out of the box.

Xiaomi was one of the first brands to fully embrace a theming engine, and in MIUI 9 the engine is much better. You’ll be able to change every facet of the user interface with themes, and there are hundreds of different theming options available from the Mi Store. Then there are the MIUI mainstays: an easy-to-use one-handed mode, Quick Ball shortcuts on the screen, Second Space, Dual Apps for running two instances of an app simultaneously. Xiaomi also introduced a split-screen mode, and it works just as you’d imagine — select Split Screen from the multitasking pane, and drag apps into the top and bottom halves of the screen.

There’s a lot to like in MIUI 9, but it is very buggy in its current iteration.

One of the main highlights in MIUI 9 is system-wide optimization, which makes the UI feel much more responsive. If you’re used a Xiaomi device running MIUI 8, you’ll immediately notice the difference. That said, MIUI 9 does not bring any visual changes, and the notification shade in particular needs to be overhauled. Although the new panel with the integrated toggles made its debut in MIUI 8 (Xiaomi had a ghastly two-pane layout in MIUI 7), it looks dated. And although the phone is running Nougat, you lose out on features like inline replies and actionable notifications.

Then there’s the issue of receiving notifications. For some reason, the Mi Mix 2 would not show incoming Slack notifications, and there’s no way to expand notifications in the lock screen. The global ROM is still in beta, and there’s a long way to go before we get to a finished build. However, with a global launch slated for next month, these issues should be resolved in forthcoming updates.

Xiaomi continues to deliver weekly updates with bug fixes and stability tweaks, and hopefully notification-related problems will be ironed out before the phone makes its way outside of China. I’ll update the review once a stable version of MIUI 9 is available for the Mi Mix 2.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Camera

This year was defined by dual cameras making their way into phones across price points, and while Xiaomi rolled out dual rear cameras in the Mi 6, the company is sticking to a single shooter with the Mi Mix 2.

The primary 12MP imaging sensor itself is the same as what we’ve seen on the Mi 6, and it similarly offers 4-axis OIS and the ability to record 4K video at 30fps. And like the Mi 6, the camera on the Mi Mix 2 does a great job in daylight conditions, but it loses out on detail in low-light scenarios.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Bottom line

The Mi Mix 2 has the same fundamentals as its predecessor: an all-screen front with virtually no bezels on three sides, and a ceramic body. By shrinking the screen size down to 5.99 inches, Xiaomi has created a device that’s easier to use on a day-to-day basis.

For now, the Mi Mix 2 is limited to the Chinese market, but Xiaomi will be rolling it out in other Asian countries shortly. The company has announced that it will launch the phone in India sometime next month, and with Indonesia also becoming a key market for the brand, an eventual launch in that country is also likely in the coming months.

The fact that the Mi Mix 2 has global LTE bands makes it an easy recommendation if you’re looking for a sub-$600 phone that manages to stand out. The same caveats as before apply though: you’re not going to see any after-sales support in markets where Xiaomi doesn’t sell phones, and if this is your first Xiaomi purchase, it’ll take you awhile to get used to MIUI. If you’re willing to put up with that, the Mi Mix 2 is a fantastic phone for the price.

See at GearBest

Toyota’s latest self-driving car is more aware of its surroundings

Toyota barely unveiled its second-generation self-driving testbed half a year ago, but it’s already back with an update. The automaker is showing off a Platform 2.1 research vehicle that has made some big technology strides… including some unusual design decisions. The biggest upgrade is an awareness of its surroundings: the modified Lexus is using new lidar from Luminar that not only sees further and maps more data, but has a “dynamically configurable” field of view that focuses its attention on the areas they’re needed most. There are also new deep learning AI models that are better at spotting objects around the car as well as predicting a safe path.

The cabin is where it gets a little odd. There’s now a unified approach to showing the level of autonomy in the car, but there’s also a second steering wheel on the passenger side of the car. Why? It’s to both improve research and safety, Toyota says. It helps the team study more graceful methods of shifting control between AI and human drivers, and aids in developing algorithms that learn from veteran human drivers to teach rookies. Also, the company’s James Kuffner tells The Verge that the second wheel lets an observer take over from a wayward car without having someone in the driver’s seat.

The second unveiling this year suggests that Toyota doesn’t want to be seen as sitting out the transition to self-driving cars. BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Tesla and others have all either struck deals for practical autonomous vehicles or have made it clear that their technology will show up in shipping cars at some point in the years ahead; Toyota is clearly in that latter camp. It’s still early days, though, so don’t expect to buy a Camry that drives itself any time soon.

Via: The Verge

Source: PR Newswire

White House: Yes, the president blocks critics on Twitter

Yes, the president does block critics on Twitter. That’s what the latest legal filing related to President Trump’s Twitter activities has revealed. If you’ll recall, seven individuals filed a lawsuit claiming Trump is violating the First Amendment by barring their access to his account. Now, the Knight First Amendment Institute, a Columbia University group helping the plaintiffs, has announced that both sides have filed a formal legal acknowledgement in which they agree upon a set of facts. In that filing, the White House said it will not contest the plaintiffs’ claims.

The document has even listed some of the tweets that got the plaintiffs blocked. For instance, one of the plaintiffs replied “To be fair you didn’t win the WH: Russia won it for you” to the president’s tweet that said “Sorry folks, but if I would have relied on the Fake News of CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS washpost or nytimes, I would have had ZERO chance winning WH.” It has also revealed that White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino sometimes tweets on the president’s behalf.

The administration argues that the @RealDonaldTrump is a personal account, so the plaintiffs can’t invoke their First Amendment right. Since Trump used it in the past to announce government news and policy decisions, though, the group believes the administration’s decision not to contest the lawsuit will help its case. Knight Institute executive director Jameel Jaffer explained that “The White House’s concessions here amount to an acknowledgment that the president and his aides have engaged in viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”

Source: Knight First Amendment Institute

James Cameron-led ‘Terminator’ sequel will hit theaters July 2019

1984 marked the year that James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton became superstars with The Terminator. Thirty-three years later, all three of them are back for more in a sequel that Cameron has said will take place directly afterTerminator 2: Judgement Day, skipping all the sequels that have come out since then. The untitled sequel, with Deadpool‘s Tim Miller as director, is part of a planned trilogy and a July 26th, 2019 release.

According to an interview with Cameron and Miller over at The Hollywood Reporter, the team hopes to bring the Terminator series back to its roots, with a modern sensibility based on our collective anxiety around artificial intelligence. “What was science fiction in the ’80s is now imminent,” Cameron told THR. “It’s coming over the horizon at us… The first two Terminator films that I did dealt with the angst around that and how we reconcile it for ourselves in a fantasy context. So I got excited about the idea of finding a story that made sense for now.”

Miller agrees. “The [first] films are more relevant today than they were when he made them,” he said during the interview. “A lot of it seems like prognostication because it’s coming to be — the world we live in right now.”

Still, it will be fascinating to see how the new movie(s) work with an aging cast. The most recent film in the franchise, Terminator: Genisys, used CGI-created Schwarzenegger as a much younger killer robot. Casting Linda Hamilton back in her original role is also a statement in itself. “There are certainly plenty of 50-, 60-, 70-something guys out there that just keep cranking along doing action movies and killing bad guys left and right,” Cameron told THR. “But there isn’t an example of that for women, and I think there should be.”

Source: Variety

OpenTable’s app now lets you send reservations through iMessage with iOS 11

Why it matters to you

OpenTable released a new feature on its app to help ease the stress of making dinner plans with friends and family.

With the official release of iOS 11 last week, also comes updates on a variety of apps. On Wednesday, September 27, OpenTable announced a new way for diners to discover and share restaurants using its app for the iPhone and iPad. Users are now able to share restaurant and reservation information through iMessage across Apple devices using its new Invite Guests feature.

With the OpenTable app, you can not only make reservations, but you can also view menus, reviews, and photos. It also allows you to earn reward points to put toward your next meal. Since deciding on a place to eat is never an easy task, the app separates restaurants into categories like “New and Hot” or “Near Me Now” for quicker discovery. For those who already know what type of food they’re craving, you can also search based on the cuisine.

Within the updated version of OpenTable, it’s now easier to share dining plans among friends and family. With the new Invite Guests feature, you can instead send your reservations via iMessage — eliminating the hassle of having to wait for RSVPs. All you have to do is tap the “Invite Guests” button when on the reservation confirmation screen and you will be able to invite anyone you like.On the other end, the recipient will see an invite with all the information such as location, date, time, and how many people the reservation is scheduled for. They woll then be able to accept or decline within iMessage and can also see who else is attending.

The app also utilizes the drag-and-drop capabilities introduced within iOS 11. Instead of having to copy and paste, you can simply drag and drop content instead. Since the feature is more iPad focused, you are more restricted on where you can drag and drop on the iPhone.

With OpenTable on the iPad, you can use the iOS 11 feature to drag and drop reservations into Apple Maps and iCal, among others. On the iPhone, you will see a section at the top that allows you drag and drop via iMessage after you complete your reservation.

For those who have already installed iOS 11, OpenTable’s new feature is currently available to use. You can download for free in the App Store or through OpenTable’s website.